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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJune 16, 1998Lee WestwoodSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA LES UNGER: Welcome to the U.S. Open - first of many meetings we will have today. I think we have nine of these visits from golfers and the greens superintendent. We thank Lee for postponing his scheduled practice round today to meet with us. And, I must say, looking at your record, and first time we have had a chance to chat, it is pretty impressive and even your only U.S. Open to date was quite good. Will you agree with what I have said. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I played quite nicely last year. Got off to a bad start, bogeyed, bogeyed, but played quite well after that. And managed to finish 19th. LES UNGER: Have you had a round here yet today, this week? LEE WESTWOOD: No. LES UNGER: This is going to be your first few later on? LEE WESTWOOD: Yes. LES UNGER: I can't ask you your impressions of this golf course. There goes another question. LEE WESTWOOD: It is a nice locker room (laughter). LES UNGER: We will open it up for questions. Q. I understand you have great expectations for this week. What is that based on? LEE WESTWOOD: Based on playing well at the moment really. I don't think there is any point coming into a tournament unless you think you can win it. And I think the way I am playing if I play well this week, then I can win it. Q. Lee, do you prepare for this tournament any differently than any of the other ones that you play during the year? LEE WESTWOOD: No. No, I don't. I know exactly what to expect. I haven't seen the course yet, but it will be tight, narrow fairways and thick rough off the sides of the greens in the fairways. I expect the greens to be quite firm by Thursday. Q. What has allowed your game to take off in the last couple of years? What has come together for you? LEE WESTWOOD: I think it is a culmination of really a lot of hard work and once I have started to put in some good performances, confidence. Q. A number of the golfers are making some minor changes in their equipment this week to fit the golf course. I know you haven't seen it yet. But, are you planning to do anything with your lofts, your 3-woods, things like that, make any sorts of changes at all in your equipment? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I am not planning to. But like you have just said, I haven't played the golf course yet, but I can't see me changing any equipment. I think it is a bit late to do that. Q. Lee, what will be your American plans next year? How many tournaments are you going to play here? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know really. I haven't made my mind up yet. I really enjoy playing out here, obviously. I enjoy playing in Europe as well. But there are a lot of incentives to join this Tour next year and it is going to be a difficult decision. Q. Lee, can you talk about your Ryder Cup experience last year and how that went for you and does the pressure that you might have felt playing with Nick Faldo and representing Europe? LEE WESTWOOD: There was no pressure playing with Nick. He made me feel very comfortable. Obviously it was a good experience because we won. And I played quite nicely as well. Even the games that I lost in, I played all right. I was 4-under against Jeff Maggert when I lost in two, so I can't really do a lot about that. Q. Did that give you a lot of confidence that you could play on that level? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it did give me a lot of confidence. I have said it before that playing every hole in the Ryder Cup is like playing the last hole in the tournament needing a par to win. Any time I am in contention now I can go back on that experience of playing in the Ryder Cup. Q. What are the pros and cons of the type of pairing that you have this week? LEE WESTWOOD: There are no cons, really. And, they are all pros. But, I generally don't bother too much who I am playing with. It is always nice to have a big gallery and I imagine it will be a fairly big one walking around with us. They are two nice guys to play with. I get along well with them. I have played with Tom Watson quite a bit and played with Tiger in the Ryder Cup once, but we have chatted, yeah. Q. How do you feel about playing with Watson and Woods and the other is, as one of your goals to be the best golfer in the world, what is the difference between being a good player and a champion? LEE WESTWOOD: Winning, really. I don't know. I can't answer that question. It is the other peoples' opinions, I suppose, to determine whether you are good golfer or champion. You know, champions tend to be good golfers. Q. What did you learning from your Masters experience this year? I know you went in with a lot of high expectations and sort of fell a little flat? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I didn't realize how much the New Orleans tournament had taken out of me. There was a lot of hype going into The Masters because I was obviously playing well and it was a new experience for me. And, I think I am more prepared coming into this one having gone through that. Q. Could you explain precisely what it is you like about playing over here and indeed been over here? LEE WESTWOOD: The atmosphere is very good. It is nice, you know, to play in front of lots of people. The courses are always in excellent condition with fast greens, a lot faster than we play on in Europe. LES UNGER: How about the checks collection? LEE WESTWOOD: Next year the money is going to be a lot better, yeah. Not that money is ever a motivator, but if there is a tournament only in one place for one million and there is another place over here for three million, might as well play here. Q. You have been on a little bit of a weight loss program. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it has all gone to the dogs in the last week, though, being over here. Q. What prompted that? LEE WESTWOOD: Gary Player had had a chat with me at The Masters and said, you know, I'd benefit from losing a few pounds. And, I did lose a few pounds, but I have let it slip this week. I think two or three have gone back on. Q. How much have you lost? LEE WESTWOOD: I had lost seven pounds. Q. How do you feel about being included in this so-called next generation of players that are going to come and take over the Tour? And obviously you are one of the leading young players. How do you feel about that mantel that has been put upon you, that label? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't mind. Two guys that put the mantel on it, and if that sells papers, then that is what you have got to do. Doesn't bother me either way, I don't read the papers, so it doesn't influence me in any way. And, I'd rather be in that group than not in that group. It is nice when people start talking about you like that, but I take no notice of other people, so..... Q. You have a reputation for being one of the bigger hitters on the Tour. How do you feel about playing a course like this and having the driver taken out of your hands in a lot of cases? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know why they said me being one of the big hitters on Tour has come from, because there is a lot of people out there that hit further than me. I play with a lot of people and I am not considerably longer than anybody else. Occasionally I do hit it a long way, but I think everybody does. I think I have probably got this bigger in-thing from reaching par 5s in 2 where or people haven't but that is probably because I have hit driver off the deck and gone for a stupid shot later on there. I don't consider myself a long hitter, not anymore. You will see on Thursday how long a hitter I am. Q. (inaudible). LEE WESTWOOD: I have not been out yet. But not many, by all accounts. More of a 3-wood course, I think. Q. How big was it for you to win in New Orleans, a breakthrough on this Tour? LEE WESTWOOD: That was obviously a very big thing. Gave me a two-year exemption over at just the right time, really. And if you want to be classed as one of these, you know, young guns like you have just said, then I needed to win over there. Q. We don't have the kind of rough around the greens in Europe as you get over here, particularly in a US Open. Do you have a way of playing that? A lot of our players have never come to terms with it. LEE WESTWOOD: There is no way of playing it really. You just stick the long wedge behind it and hit it as hard you can. I was on the chipping green yesterday, it is certainly the thickest rough I have ever seen, certainly thicker than last year. And there is no way to play. It is purely chance when you get in there which I think is an advantage to me because I tend to hit a lot of greens in regulation which, you know, is good on the U.S. Open. LES UNGER: Anyone else? Again our thanks for changing your schedule and we look forward to seeing you later this week. LEE WESTWOOD: Hopefully, yeah. Thanks. End of FastScripts.... |
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